Hard Core mode
Hard Core mode is the hardest difficulty of Dead Space 2. Hard Core mode is unlocked by completing Dead Space 2 on any difficulty. The experience is notably different from any other difficulty setting as checkpoints are disabled and the player is allowed only three saves for the entire game. The enemies are around Survivalist-level in terms of durability and damage output, while ammo drops are the same size as Zealot difficulty. To beat Hard Core mode a player must be conservative, enduring and skilled. New game+ saves do not transfer over. Preparation *Hard Core mode is unlocked after beating the game on any difficulty so a player must play through the game at least once. *It is recommended to play through the game while noting possible save points and item pickups before attempting Hard Core. *A player should plan out where each of his/hers three saves will be, remembering that there are some extremely difficult areas in the game that the player will likely die in. *DLC like the Supernova pack can help by giving a high quality suit like the Forged Engineering RIG at the first store. *To really prepare yourself, play through the game on Zealot difficulty and select "Restart from Checkpoint" each time you get hit, until you can get through most areas without taking damage. Also, try restarting a room if you think you could've been a lot more ammo-efficient. This will force you to learn important details about each major encounter (such as where/which enemies spawn and when, as well as the safest spots to engage enemies from) and develop a good strategy that you can carry over to your Hard Core run. Planning *The player should focus on which weapons to use prior to attempting Hard Core. *The Plasma Cutter is an all-around useful weapon as it is extremely accurate and powerful when upgraded. In fact, Players who have completed the One Gun achievement on Dead Space 1 may feel very comfortable using only the Plasma Cutter and one other weapon to maximize power node slots quicker. *The Pack are extemely dangerous and encountered many times throughout Dead Space 2. A rapid fire weapon like the Pulse Rifle is highly recommended. The Force Gun also does exceptionally well with killing the Pack. *Alternatively the Ripper is also useful for the Pack and doubles up as a useful stopping weapon against enhanced Slashers that may not be stopped by the Plasma Cutter. *The Contact Beam is extremely useful in Dead Space 2. It is a one hit kill against every enhanced enemy apart from the enhanced Brute, which takes three or four. Its special upgade allows a stasis burst after each alternate fire which is very useful in the final fight and in confined spaces with many Necromorphs. *Stasis is vital in Hard Core as many enemies will sprint at the player, stasis will slow enemies down, giving the player time to be strategic. The first Tripod is extremely difficult without stasis. Many players recommend upgrading stasis first. *Although this can be altered for personal taste, a very good weapon set (although it requires some of the the DLCs) is the Forged Plasma Cutter, Forged Ripper, Heavy Duty Contact Beam, and Earthgov Pulse Rifle. The plasma cutter is for general-purpose combat, the ripper is great due to it's high kill/ammo use ratio, the contact beam can annililate Stalkers, Tripods, Elite Slashers, and the final boss, and the pulse rifle's high rate of fire is great for general-purpose combat, along with fighting swarms and the Pack. The chosen DLC's all are aimed at maximizing damage, so as to make best use of scarce ammo. *A well upgraded Force Gun and Seeker Rifle combination can be a ridiculously useful combination during the final boss fight; the force gun against "Nicole" and the Seeker Rifle against the "Heart" can end the fight in your favor in under 30 seconds. *Alternatively, you can focus on only the Plasma Cutter, Force Gun and Contact Beam. An upgraded Force Gun will make the later part of the game a lot safer, ammunition is also cheap. Max the Force Gun out as soon as you can. Though, stategic use of alt and primary firing mode is still needed to conserve ammo and not blowing drops away. The Contact Beam will make any fight with big enemies very short. The final battle can be ended in under 8 seconds with a fully upgraded for primary firing mode Contact Beam; alt fire and reloading won't be needed in this setup so you should only upgrade charge and capacity (req. 13 nodes to max out). Contact Beam ammunition is also the most valuable, so save some to fight big enemies and sell the rest to buy Force Gun ammo and other upgrades. *A good idea is, if you have the Refurbished Plasma Cutter, then buy it. The upgrade of one Plasma Cutter will affect both and it will give you 20 additional shots, which can be crucial in some parts of the game. Strategy *Conserve ammo. Using Kinesis a player can do large amounts of damage by picking up poles or necromorph blades and throwing them at necromorphs. Kinesis can be used to throw explosive tanks and stasis tanks at enemies. In other words, kinesis is your best friend since it has been nerved up. *Note that you use kinesis as a weapon before you get a gun. In this time, using kineses to throw a sharp object will kill a necromorph in one hit, but after you get the Plasma Cutter, it takes 2 kinesis hits. *Always remember that backtracking is an option; should you fail to conserve ammo and/or health packs and find yourself in need of them, you should consider turning around and heading back to the last store (even if it means sacrificing weapons or ammo to buy other essantials). Also, take note that even if you've cleared an entire area, one or two enemies might still spawn on the way, so don't assume backtracking means safety. *Another method to conserve ammo is to shoot the legs off enemies and then stomp them. With the more rapid stomping in Dead Space 2, you can quickly kill a downed Slasher, save ammo, and get the drops while being in a safer position. However, if you do choose to stomp them, you must act quickly: move in as soon as the leg goes off; if you waste time, especially against enhanched Slashers, you'll miss your window. Also, the type of necromorph makes this strategy very selective: against Slashers, except those with leg armor, this method is useful. Those with leg armor, you are better off going for the arms. With Stalkers, if it has charged close, stomp it, but don't go out of your way to attack one; you'll be a sitting duck. With Pukers, the method is out completely; stomping it will only hurt you and leave you open to more attacks. Against Leapers, stasis may be neccessary as they tend to move around a lot. Stomping Lurkers can be very effective as they generally have low health, but they usually run if you get too close, so stasis may be neccessary. *Have at least one method of crowd control. *The Force Gun can easily close the emergency doors without much aiming, or knock enemies off platforms like elevators or top of the drill machine in chapter 12. *The Cyst can be killed by its own projectile. By grabbing its projectile with kinesis it is possible to throw it back and kill it. Alternatively a player can throw bodies at cysts which will cause them to shoot out a projectile and kill themselves. * A Cyst is not always bad. They can be useful in that; One, they will also also kill any necromorphs that wonder too close, if you stay mindful of where they are you can use them as personal landmines. Two, although sometimes risky, cysts are also a infinite supply of "organic bombs", which can be used to do massive damage to enemies while conserving ammo. *Every necromorph apart from the Puker will ''certainly ''die if it has lost both arms. Aim apropriately. *The Puker's long range puke attack can be caught with kinesis and thrown back, instantly killing it. *Use the quick heal button while in combat. Enemies do alot of damage and therefore waiting to exit combat before healing will cause death. *Stomp or use kinesis to throw random objects to hit dead necromorphs, this will ensure them to drop ammo or other supporting items. *Use everything in the enviroment to your advantage, even if it does little harm to a Necromorph. Corpses can be used to knock back charging enemies such as the Stalker, use Stasis or explosive canisters wisely and to your advantage, and use blades or claws from dead Necromorphs to weaken an enemy. *Remember that, whilst nodes can't be directly sold, you can use them in other ways too. For example, one way to use nodes is to sell an upgraded weapon and buy it back; you will lose the nodes and can only get a small fraction of their actual value, but it can be useful to do so when in need of emergency money. If you're willing to spend a few thousand credits to remove nodes from an empty weapon, you can then use the reacquired nodes to upgrade a weaker weapon with cheaper or plentiful ammo. *New game+ saves cannot be transfered to Hard Core so prepare to start from fresh. *If you have beaten Dead Space 2: Severed, the Patrol Suit and matching Seeker Rifle will be available in the first store, both for free. It's a better choice than the Engineering Suit, giving 15% damage resistance instead of 5%, and 15 inventory slots instead of 10. It also gives a damage boost to the matching Seeker Rifle which, when zoomed, can shoot the legs of the first Tripod with one round. *If you have an injury greater than a medium medpack will cover, it is economical to go to a bench, and respec your rig's health. Exit the rig, and you will see you health increase slightly (as even though you have low health, you lost your total health, increasing the overall percentage... i.e. 50 hp is 50% of 100hp, while 50hp is only 25% of 200hp). Once you re-upgrade the rig, your health will be refilled (as with ammo upgrades, health upgrades fully replenish health) *Your health is restored from buying a NEW RIG, but NOT from changing to a previously purchased rig *Another thing is to know what limbs you are going to dismember such as the exploder or crawler dismembering its head or arm (depending what necromorph) to use the sac or stomach for explosive use, if you consider using this strategy of explosives CAREFUL if you are dealing whit lurkers or a guardian or any other necromorph whit ranged attack it will destroy it and quit you lots of life and eventually sometimes killing you, however still do this but not with explosives and dismember other parts (example Ubermorph 1 leg and 1 arm to slow it more than an stasis effect). *The only items you should ever sell on hard core mode are conductors and ammo to guns you don't use. If you're ever overstocked in health packs, put them in storage because then you can avoid purchasing over-priced health at the store. Xbox 360 disc change The Xbox 360 version of Dead Space 2 comes on two separate discs. It is required that the player switch from the first disc to the second half-way through the game. At this disc change, the player is given a checkpoint, as without this checkpoint, being brought to the previous save due to death could potentially require the player the change back to the first disc. It is recommended that players of the Xbox 360 version exploit this checkpoint. Trivia *The Hand Cannon and the Soldier Suit are unlocked by completing Hard Core mode. *The achievement "Hard to the Core" is unlocked upon completing Hard Core mode. *There was a glitch on the PC Version of DS2, in which saving a HardCore Game exiting the game and re-entering would reset the save count to 3. PC users could abuse this to get an easy pass through HardCore. This glitch has been fixed in first DS2 patch. Category:Dead Space 2